Legends of the Smoke Jaguars Chapter 187
Vitcos's back hit the wall so hard he cratered marble. His spine flexed where the mass of his backpack bent him into an unnatural angle and the pain was excruciating. He lashed out with his right Chakram, tearing off a slice of bicep but it made no difference. The Orruk pinning him to the wall was huge, a bulked giant of solid sinew. Its piggish eyes burned with a feral hatred and its crooked leer spoke of the relish it would find in his death.
Vitcos lashed again, slicing another chunk of skin free, but did not have the angle to cut deeper. In response the Orruk pulled him forward and slammed him into the wall again. The First's head rang with the clashing of bells, his tongue tasted his own blood and his feet kicked uselessly at nothing. A Space Marine should be impossible to concuss, but Vitcos tested that truism, his eyes flashing with purple spots and his ears ringing loudly. The Orruk sensed his discombobulation and pulled him forward for a third strike, but then its heart exploded as a length of flanged metal tore straight through.
Both Orruk and Smoke Jaguar paused, looking down in disbelief, then the harpoon recoiled and the Greenskin was torn from its feet. Vitcos hit the floor just in time to see the Orruk dragged into the reach of Aapo, his harpoon smoking where it reeled the cable back in. His Chord Claw swung and the Orruk was torn into chunks of wet meat, sizzling on the marble. Aapo gave no salute to the dead, merely turning and striding back into the fray. Shots deflected off his glacis plate and many knives chipped at his ankles but the Living-dead strode into the foe, killing all within reach.
Vitcos sucked in a painful breath and forced himself upright. In an instant he took in a vision of carnage, seeing the fight grow desperate indeed. The Orruk had penetrated the Palace walls as expected but in a manner not foreseen. The expectation was they would breach the gates and so all traps had been laid accordingly, but instead they had mounted the walls and were pouring in from above. Blazing Shadow had been caught out of position and would have been overwhelmed, save that the Eldest was with them.
Aapo waded into the heart-foe, his metal feet's impacts swaying the chandeliers above. His butchery sprayed fine busts of elderly men with Xenos blood and his mechanical roars made the high curtains shake. The corridor was long, the slaughter fast, but the Orruk's number seemed without end. Ilquitio was in the midst of the fray, his Daga blades soaked with blood. Sechura battered an Orruk about the head with a stone bust, shattering the visage, before ramming his Obsidian Blade into an eyesocket. The rest of Blazing Shadow was similarly engaged, and their killing was fine indeed, but too few were they to hold this corridor.
Vitcos lifted his gaze and clipped his left Chakram to his hip. He drew his bolt pistol and sighted along its length. A squeeze of the trigger and the cord binding a Chandelier was severed. Two more shots in quick succession and the others followed suit, sending all three plummeting. Heavy brass crushed dozens of Orruk, as flying Glassic sent the remainder reeling, looking for the source of this calamity.
Vitcos reclaimed his twinned Chakrams and dove into the stunned foe, slicing throats and opening guts with swift blows. He let his fury lead, hatred guiding his blows. Wet with Orruk blood did his Chakrams grow, the blurring of the Transonic metal leaving mists of red vitae in the air. Vitcos fought with all his zeal, cutting spines, opening skulls and removing limbs but still it was not enough, the Orruk's numbers were without end.
"The noonday sun slips into evensong!" Ilquitio yelled as he stabbed an Orruk in the throat.
"The mountain shakes, the avalanche is heard on the wind!" Sechura agreed as he stabbed a greenskin in the lumbar.
Vitcos could not argue the point, "The best defence is to be elsewhere!"
"Nay!" Aapo roared, "The Prowlmaster entrusted this place to us, if we vacate our Kinsmen bleed!"
"We cannot deny the turning of stars!" Vitcos barked.
But the Living-Dead bellowed, "This is our crucible, this the forge-heat in which we are tested! Let go of your righteous hearts and embrace your most bloody-handed aspect. Draw upon the spirit of the Dark One and let slaughter be your Testimony! Here we stand, here carve our names on the hearts of the foe. This corridor shall not fall, Thus it is written, thus shall it be!"
Vitcos gritted his teeth at the proclamation, for it was right. Blazing Shadow was the only thing denying the Orruk passage into the western Palace, if they retreated the Smoke Jaguars would be flanked and cut off from the evacuation tunnels. The Storm Heralds too, but he didn't care about them. Blazing Shadow had to hold this corridor, there was no other choice. It was exactly the kind of fight the Smoke Jaguars detested, to kill and die for a metre of ground, but their options had been taken from them. Vitcos vowed to make the price of his life dear, but then it got so much worse.
Clanking in the corridor came three ungainly walkers, pot-bellied and lurching on piston legs. Their right arms were clomping claws and spinning buzzsaws while their eyes were narrow slits into darkness. The other arms bore heavy stubbers and they chattered constantly, spraying bullets wide, uncaring that they shot a host of their kin in the back. Vitcos recognised them instantly, Killa Kans, roaring, stomping and clanking into the fray. Vitcos counted the strength of his kinsmen and found it wanting, but Aapo cared not.
"Face your doom!" the Dreadnought yelled as he stomped towards them, wading through the foe. His Chord Claw sang with deadly energies and his bulk slammed Orruk aside. The primitive walkers turned to face him, counting upon safety in numbers, and Vitcos could only watch as they met. Aapo claimed the first wound, carving a deep furrow into the front of the nearest but they fell upon him, screeching loudly as claw and buzzsaw tore at the Eldest's armour.
"Count our fangs!" Vitcos barked.
"Two Transonic mines," Sechura responded.
"The floodwaters rise above our heads?!" Vitcos gasped.
"The dam burst at midnight!" sechura snapped.
"Brave the waters we shall, make ready…"
Before they could intervene the Orruk remembered they were there. Streaming around the clashing war machines tore a solid wall of Green flesh. Blazing Shadow was rushed by numbers beyond counting, a torrent even they could not withstand. Vitcos met them with furious slashes of his Chakrams but could not make an impression. He removed jaws, sliced eyes from skulls and disembowelled many but the rush was too great. He was bowled off his feet, carried to the floor in a scrum of hacking and grasping hands. Claws and knives scored at his plate, seeking to pierce his flesh and he could not withstand their weight. He elbowed and kneed as best he could, headbutted even, but was unable to shift the mass crushing him. Fat fingers pawed at his grip, trying to prize the Chakrams free, and he could not stop them. Vitcos was drowning in foes, feeling the pressure multiply as they piled on, dragging him down to the darkness that lingers at the bottom of the ocean. Shame burned hot at his failure, adding to the tally of sorrow that lurked in his heart, calling forth the memory he heated most. No, his soul pleaded, if I am to die then let it be with visions of glory, not lost in the memory of chains and a father's betrayal. The universe cared nothing for his plea, the unwelcome memory consuming his mind, but then salvation of a different timbre rippled forth.
A buzzsaw ripping cut his ears and suddenly the weight upon him shifted as Orruk died. A friend unlooked for, reinforcements had come! Vitcos jerked hard and managed to free an arm, as a second snarl rang forth. Orruk blood dripped upon him, coming from above and Vitcos heaved for all he was worth, freeing his torso. He shifted a body off and looked up, expecting the Hound Sinister or another Prowl, but it was no Smoke Jaguar who had come to his aid. A giant in sundered blue, proud despite the mass of grey paste holding his breastplate together. The helm was a stern visage of red lens in a snarling faceplate, somehow threatening despite being standard in form. A blood-soaked Eviscerator was in his hand and his back sported wide turbines. Murder hung upon this one as an aura of dread, vicious and brutal, uncaring for the woes of mortals or pleas for clemency. A Storm Herald but one shorn of finery, the raw heart of their chapter exposed for the homicidal wroth it was. Vitcos' eyes widened in shock as he beheld a veneer of pomp stripped away and the aspect of murder made plain. This stranger was terror incarnate, without need for the fetishes and warpaints of the Smoke Jaguars, his presence more imposing than the Hound Sinister himself.
"Who…" Vitcos gasped
"Give me that!" the stranger demanded as he grabbed a Transonic mine.
"But…"
"Get out of my Frakking way!" he roared as his turbines howled.
Vitcos was still half pinned as the stranger leapt high, carried aloft by wings of fire. He soared over the heads of the Orruk, arcing over the grappling war Machines. He twisted in midair and the mine leapt from his hand, slapping into the roof of a Killa Kan. Instantly the device ignited, quaking molecules and parting atoms, deconstructing the machine as completely as a melta-bomb. The Killa Kan wailed in dismay as the pilot within was liquefied, turned into slop by the power of the mine and the stranger wasn't done.
He slammed onto the roof of a second and planted his feet wide. The Killa Kan jerked wild, reaching up with a spinning buzzsaw as it clomped in a circle. The stranger rode the bucking with ease, footing sure and steady. He lifted his Eviscerator's hilt high, gripping hard as he prepared to plunge it deep. Vitcos couldn't speak as he beheld the impossible, a single Marine preparing to behead a war machine twice his size and his autosenses picked up a bold cry, "Fear me Xenos scum, I am His Wrath!"
The blade plunged, driven through armour plating by sheer strength alone. The spinning teeth chewed metal apart, then diced the pilot within, reducing the Snotling bound to the machine into a smear of gore. The Killa Kan came to a screeching halt, its violence ended, leaving one alone. Aapo made short work of that, stabbing his Chord Claw into the central mass, piercing its armour. The last Killa Kan was destroyed and with it the Orruk's courage snapped. The Greenskins had seen their best cut low, and there was no Black Orruk to embolden their spirits. As one they turned and fled, racing to break out of the chamber as they all tried to cram out the door at once.
"My eyes behold the waters running upstream," Vitcos gasped as he pushed dead bodies off and made to stand up.
"The sounds of my hearts ring loud in my ears, for the universe is silenced," Ilquitio agreed as he rose from a pile of dead Xenos.
"Are we whole?" Vitcos asked as he looked about.
"Three times has my blood stained Orruk blades," Sechura announced as he pulled knives from his body.
"Is your arm slowed?"
"Your asking makes me laugh!"
Vitcos saw Blazing Shadow were battered and wounded, but they yet moved and were able to stand. It was then he realised others in blue were present, a squad of Storm Heralds pressing forward, their weapons dripping Greenskin blood. He made to ask them a question but they didn't deign to acknowledge him, rushing to the far doorway, pulling melta bombs from their belts. The stranger ripped his Eviscerator free with a squeal of tearing armour and ordered, "Rig the walls to blow, cut off this access point!"
Aapo lurched forward to say, "The blood you shed was mighty indeed."
"Save your praises, I have no use for them," the stranger snapped as he jumped down.
"You turn your face away from esteem earned in blood?"
"I have no idea what doggerel you are spitting, but you're slowing me down! Second Captain Symon is dead, this whole Palace is about to be overrun. I am needed in a hundred places right now, so quit yakking and get back into the throne-damned fight!"
Vitcos closed with a wary tread, "Might we at least know the name of so bold a warrior?"
"Veteran-Sergeant Ajax," the stranger spat.
Vitcos stopped, "Arjax… you claim unto yourself the deed title Arjax-lel?"
"Ajax! And it's my sodding name!"
Ilquitio sounded stunned, "This is a cosmic jest, you cast webs of false seeming!"
"I do not know what the Frak you're bleating on about, but this room is coming down. Move your useless arses or be buried!"
Aapo retorted, "The Herald of Storms speaks softly as a maid over the crib but you are whelped from a different breed."
Ajax turned from them and strode off barking, "I came to this planet to kill Frakking Orks, not trade witty barbs! You go do whatever it is you sulking curs do, I am going to go reap more Xenos lives! We're falling back to the Governor's throneroom, so shift your worthless feet or be left behind. I'm not coming back for you a second time!"
Ajax led his Marines out, and the ring of meta bombs around the doorway began to blink as they counted down. Vitcos hurriedly followed, not wishing to be buried in stone. Blazing Shadow made a hasty exit, Dreadnought in tow, chasing the heels of the Storm Heralds. The Smoke Jaguars were stunned, never had they seen so fierce a rebuke by one not born of their Chapter. Vitcos didn't know whether to be amazed or insulted.
"What manner of fool takes unto themselves the deed title Arjax-lel?" Sechura bristled.
"One who merits it," Aapo replied.
"You esteem this coarse boar?" Ilquitio blinked.
"Glory unearned is hollow, but I see nothing in that one that rings false. Bloody in hand and bold of spirit, there is one who I would count among the mighty."
Vitcos agreed, "The glimmer of gold we mistook for a veil covering weakness, when it was in truth the shimmering scales of the deadly cobra. Under Arjax-lel's veneer of finery hides the soul of a predator born. Who knew the Storm Heralds hid such admirable murderers amongst their Kinsmen? Hasten your step Smoke Jaguars, this one I must see kill again before the sun sets!"